Domestic Partnership Registry and HELP Ordinance

What It Does

The Orange County Domestic Partnership Registry and HELP (Health, Education and Life Protections) Ordinance allow you to select a surrogate to make critical decisions for you when you are incapacitated or otherwise unable to make them yourself. These include decisions on medical care, end-of-life management and funeral arrangements.

Under the ordinance, you designate this surrogate in an affidavit, which you can download from the Orange County Comptroller’s Office. You can find the link below. You then have the option of filing the form with the Comptroller’s office. This helps ensure your choice is honored countywide.

How It Works

HELP provides two options.

The first is for people who want to select a relative or perhaps an acquaintance to serve as a surrogate, who is referred to as their “support person.“ For example, two senior citizens who don’t have nearby family members may want to designate each other as support persons. The HELP affidavit allows them to specify what rights and powers they want to assign each other.

The second option is for couples, either same-sex or heterosexual, who are in a committed relationship and share a mutual residence. They can fill out a Domestic Partnership Registration affidavit. This form automatically grants each partner a number of rights including visitation in hospitals or correction facilities, emergency notification, health care and burial decisions, and education decisions for a child.